With Greg Oden out for the season, Portland basketball fans must be having Sam Bowie flashbacks.
You have to feel sorry for basketball fans in Portland.
It was announced recently that former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden will miss the rest of the season due to the dreaded micro-fracture surgery on his left knee.
Oden has played the equivalent of one full season since being drafted in 2007. So the young man who played collegiately at Ohio State will have to climb the rehab mountain yet again and it's really a shame that he hasn't been able to play and start to work toward any of his potential.
Portland head coach Nate McMillan addressed the media yesterday regarding the entire situation.
But the joke on one of the best fan bases in the NBA has gone too far.
Remember the last time the Blazers had a snake-bitten big man with a leg injury? Yep, it was Sam Bowie back in 1984 when Portland could have chosen some guy named Michael Jordan. They passed because they had Clyde Drexler and Bowie never panned out due to injury.
The next time the fans in Rip City had the first pick, they passed on Kevin Durant. Is Durant destined to be in Jordan territory when it is all said and done? Nobody knows for sure, but one thing that is fact at present is Durant is further down the road than Oden.
Let's hope Oden gets healthy and has a chance to play and make an impact in the league. Oden's future is in serious doubt as he has already had micro-fracture surgery on his right knee. Research is starting to filter out as to how long a player can be productive and play at a high level after this surgery so we can say Oden's career is being cut short before it has really even started.
It gets worse for Blazer fans too as Brandon Roy will miss the next two games due to, yep, you guessed it, a knee injury.
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She was an all-star player and regularly held her own in games with the boys and now Nancy Lieberman is trying to do it again as a coach in the NBA D-League.
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It's taboo to talk about it right now, but the NBA's collective bargaining agreement continues to be on everyone's mind.
It's going to have a far-reaching impact not just on NBA players and management, but on those connected with the game that don't make the lucrative salaries.
Front office support workers, men, women and college students that work at concessions stands, parking attendants, and even the NCAA are going to feel the reverberations. Say you are an NCAA player thinking about coming out early in the draft; do you throw your name into the draft not knowing if there is going to be a season next year?
It sounds like a lockout is inevitable.
If it happens on July 1, then everything is impacted. The Summer League play for draft picks and potential undrafted free agents will be up in the air. Team facilities will be closed for workouts, and the list goes on. If there is no resolution, then games could be lost next season, but let's hope if nothing is settled before July 1 then during that period between July and October some sort of middle ground is reached.
